(often initial capital letter) the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of her conception of Christ.
(initial capital letter) a representation of this in art.
Also called Lady Day. (initial capital letter) the church festival on March 25 in memory of this.
an act or instance of announcing; proclamation.
the annunciation of a new foreign policy.
New Testament the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26–38)
Also called: Annunciation Day. the festival commemorating this, held on March 25 (Lady Day)
1350–1400; Middle English an ( n ) unciacio ( u ) n (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin annūnciātiōn-, stem of annūnciātiō, for Late Latin adnūntiātiō; see annunciate, -ion
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To MacFarlane, this image could be "an annunciation scene from Giotto".
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2019
Christianity was ceasing to be the apocalyptic annunciation of something unprecedented and becoming just the established devotional system of its culture, offering all the consolations and reassurances that one demands of religious institutions.
From New York Times • Nov. 4, 2017
Such a very public naming of the dead, an annunciation of our universal mortality, would be an act of revelation in the Anglo-Saxon world.
From The Guardian • Sep. 9, 2017
The grand words of annunciation with which Kushner’s play culminates—“Greetings Prophet; / The Great Work begins: / The Messenger has arrived”—are delivered by the Angel with conversational mildness.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 26, 2015
Like an angel of the annunciation, Mother Ermentrude spreads her arms and folds her hands over my head.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
